Both are Palestinian residents of Kafr ‘Aqab, a finger of territory that is part of Greater Jerusalem under Israeli law, but under international law it is considered an illegally annexed area, following its capture from Jordan in 1967.
It is also surrounded by Jerusalem by the huge concrete wall of Israel. Jewish Israelis rarely come here, except in uniform to conduct military raids.
Mahmoud Oudeh, like thousands of other city residents, has a Palestinian identity document. His friend Anan abu Aishe has an Israeli ID that defines him as a permanent resident of East Jerusalem. This gives him the right to take part in Israel’s leading vaccination campaign, which aims to reach the government’s target of vaccinating the entire country by the end of March.
But at least 4.5 million Palestinians living on the West Bank and Gaza are left behind. So far no one was able to send in the perfect solution, which is why most people will not get it soon – because there is no Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the Palestinian territories.
So if Anan gets the vaccine and goes next to his friend, cuts meat and sells the goat and cow carcasses that swing from brackets in the store, he will feel guilty.
“Half of the people here can’t take it, so I’m not going to take it either. Why would I take it if they can not? I will not,” he told CNN.
“This is racist,” Mahmoud added.
According to United Nations experts, an immunization policy that distinguishes between those with Israeli IDs and those without, is ‘unacceptable’.
According to the UN expert report, Israel is the occupying power in and over Gaza and the West Bank, and has been since 1967 and is ultimately responsible for the health care of those living under occupation.
According to the report of experts, published by the UN Office for High Human Rights, Israel must extend its vaccination campaign to all Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The experts also said: “4.5 million Palestinians will remain unprotected and exposed to Covid-19, while Israeli citizens living near and below them – including the Israeli settler population – will be vaccinated. Morally and legally, this different access to “In the midst of the worst global health crisis of a century, it is unacceptable.”
But because Israel’s vaccination campaign is climbing nearly 20% of the Israeli population (including residents of East Jerusalem), it is not a feature that Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein accepts.
“Our calculation was based on Israeli citizens. If we get into the situation where everyone in the country who wants to be vaccinated is vaccinated, we will be more than ready to share the vaccines with our neighbors,” Edelstein told CNN.
“At this stage we are talking about Israeli citizens … I have not yet heard of any obligation from Israel to pay for the vaccines for anyone else.”
Israel’s government points to the Oslo Accords, signed in the mid – 1990s with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The first of the agreements included a clause giving the PA responsibility for the health of all Palestinians under its civilian administration.
Experts admit that it is not an easy task to try to navigate between the responsibilities assigned by Oslo, which was not a final status agreement, and the duties set out under the Geneva Conventions.
In his interview with CNN, Edelstein puts the decision in terms of interests rather than obligations.
“At this stage we are not delivering vaccines, but we do understand that it is in Israel’s interest to make sure that we do not get into a situation where we are vaccinated and then get out of this trouble, and to the On the Palestinian side, there is another increase in numbers, “Edelstein added.
The minister of health, Dr. Mai Al-Kaileh says they expect to receive the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of March, but that there is no specific date for their arrival. The ministry says it has contracted with four companies that manufacture the vaccine. These vaccines will cover 70% of the Palestinian population and the World Health Organization will provide 20% to the Ministry, ‘the PA said in a statement on January 9.
At Ramallah Public Central Hospital, medics work 24 hours a day to treat coronavirus patients in a Covid intensive care unit. As in many other hospitals around the world, non-specialist staff have been set up to deal with the pandemic. But after a lengthy shutdown, the admission drops and on the day CNN visits, the ICU unit is not full.
Dr. Wafa Shihadeh, a general surgeon, has been working in the Covid-19 wards for months. He says he has seen many of his colleagues succumb to infection and spread it to their families.
“We are starting to feel depressed because we are not getting the vaccines here in the Palestinian territories,” he said. “And on the other side of the border, Israel … I think about 1,600,000 people were vaccinated about three days ago, and here in Palestine the number of vaccinations is zero.”
Abeer Salman contributed to this report.